The latest press conferences of KHL clubs are of a rather specific kind. It usually happens at a time when everything has been said over and over on certain issues and the details of the negotiations have yet to be disclosed. Therefore, a lot of “water”. But sometimes that can be a diamond in the water. For example, the statement of the President of CSKA about Alexander Radulov.

“We are not negotiating with Radulov. The person who betrayed CSKA cannot sign a contract with us. He went to America when there was an agreement that he would sign a contract with CSKA. We try not to go back to that character.”– the head of the newly minted champions came out of his mouth quite sharply.

What are the agreements? Just a betrayal? But the journalists left no room for speculation and pressed Esmantovich to develop the idea.

“We had a five-year contract with Alexander Radulov, which he agreed to. He has already agreed to sign a long-term contract with CSKA. However, everything changed during the championship and playoffs in the two-three-month period. Radulov found a way out, he did not sign this contract. I just moved to North America.”– Announced the boss of CSKA.

Let’s quickly move on to 2016. CSKA lost to Metallurg in the final. The decisive streak of the season, spanning seven games, turned into a golden duo for Evgeny Timkin. Radulov became the top scorer of the army team in the playoffs with 16 points in 20 matches, but Moscow could not take the club to the cup.

Playing for CSKA for four years, Radulov was the top scorer in the playoffs and the MVP of the regular season. He failed to make it out of the All-Star Games and showed amazing stats. But did they count on it in the capital when they paid 255 million rubles for forward rights? In the spring of 2012, Radulov left Ufa for Nashville at the end of the season and returned to Moscow. It was the first major acquisition of Rosneft and the young manager Sergei Fedorov.

According to Esmantovich, after four futile attempts to win the Gagarin Cup together, CSKA and Radulov planned to continue their cooperation. The head of the army talks about a five-year contract that the star has at his desk. Whereas the press later reported a two-year deal and an astronomical sum of 840 million! So Radulov can earn 420 million per year. No less than the salary budget of an entire KHL team.

We don’t know if the information about 420 million a year is correct. It was said that the player’s side wanted half a billion! How much did Radulov get before these very unsuccessful negotiations? Also a lot. According to various sources, from 240 to 300 million per season. The media actively exaggerated the amount of 1.2 billion – according to insider information, how much did Alexander earn in CSKA in four years. However, the player’s manager denied this information.

“I also heard the talk about Radulov’s salary. For example, I was driving the other day, and at one of the radio stations they say, in all seriousness, that he will earn 1.2 billion rubles a year. But this is complete nonsense! Praise! Where do such rumors come from? I would like to call the phone of these “experts” and ask where they got this information?.. Sasha’s contract amount has obviously increased compared to Ufa. But it is not global. I think he got a contract worthy of him and his game in CSKA. I think this amount is not more than what Jaromir Jagr earned in Avant-garde– said Yuri Nikolaev.

So why did Radulov “betray” CSKA six years ago? At that time, absolutely the best player in Europe dreamed of returning to the NHL. Given his short temper and story of fleeing from Nashville to Ufa, this was not easy. The only coach who decided to transfer Radulov was Mark Bergevin. The Montreal boss awarded the Russian a one-year contract worth $ 5.75 million Compared with the conditions at CSKA, this is more than he earned under the old four-year contract (about 4 million dollars at the rate of 60 rubles), but less than the offer of the Muscovites (60 rubles) 7 million dollars at the exchange rate). However, if taxes are taken into account, in any case it was more profitable to play in Russia.

Radulov signed a five-year deal with Dallas for a total of $31,250 million after a short-term contract with Montreal, which expires in a few months, so Alexander’s name is starting to flicker in transfer rumors again. They are fueling the fire of Rick Bowness’s decision. In the series starring Calgary, the Stars’ head coach left the Russian veteran in tow twice. True, on the eve of Dallas this did not help. And let his colleagues from Match TV assure Radulov that he wants to stay in the NHL in any case, the options to return to the KHL cannot be ruled out.

Ak Bars appeared in the knowledge area long before CSKA. Allegedly, the people of Kazan are interested in the 35-year-old star. However, at first, Radulov’s relationship with Oleg Znark remains unclear. Recall that after the First Channel Cup in 2015, Alexander did not play for the national team, first missing the home World Cup, and then not getting into the World Cup squad. But some sources claim that the player’s contention is not with the head coach. But even if Radulov got along well with Znark, the Kazan club has already taken over the contracts of Shipachyov, Voinov and Semyonov. And this is about 230 million rubles.

Will Radulov come to Znark in Ak Bars? Six years ago they were at the center of a huge scandal in the Russian national team.

It’s hard to believe that the Ak Bars administration could fit under the salary cap for Radulov, who is unlikely to go to the KHL with a salary of less than 100 million a year. Yes, it’s not 240 like it was in 2012, and half a billion like it was in 2016 isn’t a desirable number, but it’s very serious in today’s times. And who has an empty cell? That’s right, very close to Radulov in the Ufa club. Most recently Salavat Yulaev, Tem Hartikainen, Juha Metsola, Philip Larsen and just recently Linus Omark paid similar sums. Now, when foreign players in the KHL are a temporary thing, why not invest in a player so loved by Bashkiria?

But “Salavat Yulaev” Radulov did not betray. Even the opposite. Unlike the four-year period in Moscow, he still made Ufa the champion. The most prosperous period in the history of Bashkir hockey is associated with Radulov. And when it naturally ended, the club managed to earn good money from Radulov. The transition to CSKA was remembered precisely as an agreement between the two clubs, even though Alexander himself bent his hands and tearfully begged the managers to let him go to the capital. The player’s hands are de jure clean. Therefore, on an emotional level, the return of the number 47 should be taken with a bang.

“Radulov has always been in Salavat’s area of ​​interest, but so far the season NHL not completed, its representative is not conducting any negotiations. We always talked about the interest in him. It’s relevant today but we don’t know what will happen, everything is changing.”– Says about Alexander Rinat Bashirov, the director of the residents of Ufa.

You can argue for a long time that “Radulov is no longer what he used to be”, the energy and with it the motivation disappear. However, recently, the Ufa administration has a serious trump card. His name is Viktor Kozlov. Maybe for someone, Tommy Lamsya’s successor is not an authority. But about Radulov this can hardly be said. Together they won the first and only ever Gagarin Cup for Salavat. Alexander was considered the main star of this team, but its captain was Kozlov. If not him, who can curb Radulov and put his energy (or remnants) in a peaceful channel? Even for one season, but their reunion would be a good story that the KHL so much needs today.